


Sparkles like Stars

by icthyoabe



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Dad Fenris, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, they're doing their best to be good parents alright
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-01-30 22:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12662919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icthyoabe/pseuds/icthyoabe
Summary: “Was it magic, Anne?” Hawke asked again, giving her a soft smile. “Like mine? Like Mommy’s magic?” She summons a tiny cluster of sparkles in her hand, twirling and spinning in her hand like tiny shooting stars.The little girl nods slowly. She always loved Mommy’s sparkle trick, and her bright eyes followed the illusion as it danced in front of her face, mesmerized.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd, as per usual, so sorry for any mistakes.

When Hawke had returned home after a night out running simple errands to find her husband frantic with worry, unable to find their daughter, she had merely groaned in frustration. The little girl had learned the ever exhausting game of hide-and-seek from Merrill days earlier and had been begging to play every chance she got.

 

“But she was asleep!” Fenris growled, methodically lifting each individual pillow, as though the seven-year-old would be hiding beneath them. “She was in her bed, fast asleep! I closed the door, there was a-- a crash and when I came back, it was open and she was gone!”

 

“Calm down, Fenris.” Hawke shushed him, though she had to admit, she was beginning to worry a bit. Surely if Anne had heard all of her father’s shouting, she would have come out by now had she simply been playing a game. She was a very caring child and not one to make her parents worry purposefully. “How long ago was this?”

 

“I-I don’t know. Maybe fifteen-- twenty minutes?” He rubbed at his face, heaving a sigh. “Too long, regardless. Where could she have possibly gone? Surely Dog would have made a fuss if anyone had gotten in?”

 

“You think someone has kidnapped our daughter?” Hawke crossed her arms over her chest. “You think they just snuck in, past you, past dog--”

 

“Ye-- No, no, I just said that would be impossible.” He grew eerily silent. “Right? That would be impossible?”

 

“Let me take a look around, alright?” She said , a gentle hand settling on Fenris’ shoulder.

 

“But I've already--”

 

“Just…” She sighed, “Let me look?”

 

“Fine.” He mumbled, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

 

It wasn’t long before Hawke found her, by accident, cowering under the kitchen table, nothing but her little bare feet peeking out from under the dark red table cloth. 

 

She had been pacing, not noticing the tiny toes before they were crushed beneath her own foot, thankfully bare as well. The last thing she'd want to do is smash her delicate bones beneath her heavy boots.

 

The girl let out a startled squeak and tucked her feet back underneath the table. Dog quickly followed, the large mabari shuffling under the table cloth and out of sight, save for his happily wiggling rump.

 

“Anne?” Hawke heaved a sigh of relief. “Leandra, love, what in the world--”

 

“Shhh!” The girl hissed, “Mommy, be quiet! Quiet!” The panic was clear in her voice, and broke her mother’s heart.

 

Hawke carefully got down onto her knees and peered under the table, slowly lifting the tablecloth to find little Leandra huddled in a tight ball, Dog licking at her arms and legs. “Can I come in? I’ll be quiet, I promise.” She grinned, drawing her fingers in an ‘X’ over her chest. “Cross my heart, promise.” 

 

“You won’t tell daddy?” She whispered, “Just you?”

 

“Won’t tell daddy what?” She asked, crawling in beside her daughter, gently shoving dog over so that she could fit. “Where you’re hiding? He’s worried about you, love. You’ve hidden so well, he thinks you’ve just up and vanished! Poof! Gone!” Hawke spread her palms, gesturing as widely as she could in the tight space, but Leandra wouldn’t even look at her.

 

“He’ll be mad, mommy.” The tears kept falling, though her face remained eerily calm. “You can’t tell him.”

 

“Tell him what?”

 

“About the glass.”

 

“The glass?”

 

“I-in my r-room. The window.” Her face finally crumpled, eyebrows scrunching in and mouth turning down in a pout. “I made it crack, mommy.” Her voice was so quiet, if Hawke hadn’t been practically leaning on her shoulder she wouldn’t have heard her.

 

“What do you mean you made it crack?” She asked gently, “What cracked? Did you throw something o-or drop something? Daddy won’t be mad, I promise.”

 

She was sobbing quietly now, breath coming in little pants that caught in her throat, hands in a white knuckled grip on her knees.

 

“Sweetheart, you need to calm down,” Hawke shushed her, “You’ll make yourself sick. Take deep breaths okay, look at me, love.”

 

“N-no.” She mumbled, head tucked into her arms, still shaking uncontrollably. “Nuh-uh.”

 

“Oookay.” Hawke heaved a sigh, at a loss for what to do. “Do you want me to leave you here?”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“A-alright, then, uh…” Hawke wasn’t sure what to make of that, honestly. Be it a nightmare or a scraped knee, Leandra was always one to seek comfort. Especially from her mother. “Can Dog stay with you?”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“Great…” Hawke mumbled, scooching out from under the table, careful not to bang her head. “Stay, Dog, watch Anne for me, for a while, alright?”

 

It was probably for the best, at least at the moment. Fenris was likely about to lose it, if the distant sound of pacing was any indication. She needed to reassure him that their child was safe and sound, if a bit distressed for whatever reason.

 

“Fenris?” She called, startling when he nearly crashed into her as she turned the corner. “F-Fenris!”

 

“Did you find her?” He demanded, “Should I go get--”

 

“It’s fine! It’s alright, I found her.” He heaved a sigh of relief, tension practically draining out of him.

 

“Where is she? Is she back in bed?”

 

“Well, no,” Hawke muttered, sheepishly. “She didn’t really… I mean, I’m not sure what’s wrong exactly--”

 

“Something’s wrong?” He startled, eyes wide. “What’s--?”

 

“No, no! She’s fine! She’s hiding under the kitchen table, Dog’s with her. She’s not hurt or anything she’s just… upset.” Hawke glanced back the way she’d came, hoping to see Leandra following behind her, but no such luck. “Did something happen, while I was gone?”

 

“What? No, she spent most of the time playing with her toy soldiers, I was watching her pretty much the entire time.” He gestured towards the room behind them, where little wooden men still lay scattered across the carpet. “She seemed fine. Hawke, what is it?”

 

“She said something about a crack in her window,” She rubbed at her face, thinking, “She seemed to think you were upset with her. Wouldn’t even talk to me, tell me...”

 

“Wait,” Fenris’ eyes grew wide at that. “she’s hiding from me?”

 

“Well, yes.” Hawke mumbled, confused. “I mean…”

 

“But why? She has no reason to… I’m not angry with her, I didn’t give her any reason to think I was upset.” He sounded truly bothered by the implication that he’d done something to scare Leandra into hiding. “The last I saw her was when I kissed her goodnight.”

 

“She’s seven-years-old, Fenris.” Hawke tugged on his hands, pulling him towards her. “She said she’d cracked something, right? So maybe she just thinks you’ll be upset with her. You didn’t do anything.”

 

They both grew silent for a moment, before Hawke tugged at Fenris, pulling him down the hallway and towards Leandra’s bedroom.

 

“What is it?” He asked.

 

“She said she’d cracked something.” Hawke repeated, lighting the little lantern beside Leandra’s bed to get a better look at the moon-lit room. “What was--”

 

“What.. the hell..” Fenris hissed, eyes wide. “How did..?”

 

“Well,” Hawke chuckled nervously. “She wasn’t kidding, that’s broken all right.” 

 

The entire window just beside Leandra’s bed was completely shattered, the glass covered in a web of cracks spreading from the center to the window outward, hundreds of tiny shards glinting in the light of the lantern. None of the little shards seem to have fallen from the frame, thankfully, or it likely would have landed in the bed below.

 

It was beautiful, really. Like a spider web made from ice and moonlight, straight from a child’s imagination.

 

“What could cause this?” Fenris spun to look at Hawke, who was seemingly mesmerized by the display. “Hawke?”

 

“Magic.” She whispered, turning wide eyes to Fenris. “Magic, Fenris!”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about parenting and neither do they, hallelujah.

It took a solid half hour to coax Leandra out of hiding, and another twenty or so minutes to get her to calm down enough to sit and talk to her parents. As it was, she was currently lying face down on the couch, face smooshed into the pillows. Dog lie at her feet, seemingly just as worn out by the fiasco as the rest of them.

 

At least she wasn't crying, anymore. 

 

Fenris, however, looked close to tears himself. The idea that he had caused his daughter any amount of distress truly bothered him. He wanted to talk to her, to understand why she thought he would be so angry at her that she felt the need to physically hide from him.

 

Leandra was a good girl, but like any child, she did tend to act out at times. She would say naughty things and get into things she isn’t supposed to, which on one memorable occasion happened to be Hawke’s lingerie chest. But she would always own up to it, taking any punishment in stride and laughing off reprimands, a trait she undoubtedly got from her mother.

 

Never before had she shut down like this, so fearful of punishment for something that from all angles appeared to be an accident.

 

“Leandra, love.” Hawke murmured, kneeling beside the couch next to her head. “Anne? Will you look at me? We’re not mad, it was an accident right?”

 

“Hawke…” Fenris mumbled. When she glanced back up at him, he was unsure of what he even wanted to say. He simply shrugged.

 

“Anne,” She took a deep breath, running a hand through her daughter's long black hair. “Was it magic, Anne?”

 

At this, Leandra finally turned her head towards her mother, eyes rimmed red and mouth parted, unable to breath through her post-cry stuffy nose. Her eyes were wide, but not with shock or fear, she just started at Hawke with big brown eyes, as if she were unsure how to respond.

 

“Was it magic, Anne?” Hawke asked again, giving her a soft smile. “Like mine? Like Mommy’s magic?” She summons a tiny cluster of sparkles in her hand, twirling and spinning in her hand like tiny shooting stars.

 

The little girl nods slowly, the action a bit awkward from her position on the couch. She always loved Mommy’s sparkle trick, and her bright eyes followed the illusion as it danced in front of her face, mesmerized.

 

“Can I do that, too?” Anne murmured, voice nearly inaudible. 

 

“Maybe,” Hawke smirked, voice light and teasing, “it does take practice.”

 

“You’ll teach me?” She whispered, “You will?”

 

“Who else?” She smiled, running her fingers through her little girl’s hair.

 

“Those other people.” She sat up, squinting between her parents. “The circle people. That’s where Aunt Merrill said that Daddy would take me.”

 

The silence that filled the room was so thick with tension that it hurt. Fenris stared wide eyed at Leandra, mouth opening and closing, unsure of what to say. He looked between Leandra and Hawke, dread settling in his stomach.

 

Hawke however couldn’t meet either of their gazes, eyes trained on the carpet where she was kneeling, shoulders shaking.

 

“Now why would Aunt Merrill tell you something like that?” She asked, forcing a comforting smile.

 

“She didn’t really.” Leandra shrugged. “She was talking to Auntie Isabela and another man. I was listening”

 

Hawke groaned, settling her head in her hands and her elbows on her knees. She looked to be curling into herself, a perfect sphere sitting on the floor between Leandra and Fenris, both of whom stared at her with pleading eyes.

 

Fenris stayed silent, unsure of what he could possibly say to reassure his daughter that he wasn’t about to send her away, that what she had heard was utter nonsense and that she shouldn’t worry. He should probably kneel beside her, beside Hawke, and hold her in his arms and tell her that he’s proud of her, and not angry at at her, and not at all afraid. Not at all afraid of what it means for her to have magic, to be a mage, to hold that much power in her tiny hands…

 

But he can’t.

 

He can’t look her in the eye and tell her those things because everytime he opens his mouth to do so something in the back of his mind, these nagging thoughts and deeply ingrained feelings stop him. Because he is afraid. He has never trusted magic, never in his disjointed memories can he remember ever feeling anything less than uneasy around the subject of magic.

 

He can’t blame Merrill for bringing it up, not really, although he very much wants to. He and Hawke had only ever brought up the subject once, ages ago, shortly before Leandra was born. He knew very well that there was a strong possibility that his child would be a mage, but he never let himself think about what that would mean for their relationship.

 

The three of them sat in silence for a moment, before Hawke broke the silence with a heavy sigh, finally pulling herself up from the floor and lifting Leandra into her arms.

 

“You don’t have to worry, love.” She soothed her, a steady hand at her back and the other beneath her legs. Leandra was much to big to still be held as such, but Hawke was nothing if not stubborn. And very, very strong. “We’re not sending you anywhere you don’t want to go. Not now, not ever.” She stressed this, making sure that Leandra nodded affirmatively before continuing. “And we’re not mad about the window. We’ll fix it later, it’s still warm out. You don’t mind a bit of a breeze for now, do you?

 

“No, not really.” She hesitated. “You don’t think demons will crawl in through it, do you?”

 

“Now why would they do that?” Hawke grinned, leaning in close to her ear. “With Dog waiting inside, nothing would ever think of trying to get in. His smell alone will drive them away!”

 

The girl giggled, nothing like the loud and boisterous laughter they were used to hearing, but she had a smile on her face and that alone was enough to calm her parents. At least for the night.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm awful at naming children in fics, so you might notice that I'll always just name them after parents or family friends. It works, I suppose.


End file.
